“No. I don’t know. Should I be?”

“No. I’ve promised you that nothing we put before you will be illegal, and nothing will be dangerous. I’ll see you every week—”

“You’ll be there?”

“I’ll come and go, and if you need a buddy, male or female, we can arrange to have one nearby.”

“I don’t need a babysitter, and I’m not afraid of anything but failure. You’d be paying me a lot of money to do something I can’t begin to imagine, something important, and you obviously expect results. What if Cable is as smart and tough as you think he is and reveals nothing? What if I do something stupid and he gets suspicious and moves the manuscripts? I can see a lot of ways to screw this up, Elaine. I have no experience and no clue.”

“And I love your honesty. That’s why you’re perfect, Mercer. You’re direct, sincere, and transparent. You’re also very attractive and Cable will immediately like you.”

“Are we back to sex? Is that part of this job description?”

“No. Again, what you do is up to you.”

“But I have no idea what to do!” Mercer said, raising her voice and catching a glance from the nearest table. She lowered her head and said, “Sorry.” They ate for a few minutes in silence.

“You like the wine?” Elaine asked.

“It’s very good, thank you.”

“It’s one of my favorites.”

“What if I say no again? What do you do then?”

Elaine tapped her lips with her napkin and drank some water. “We have a very short list of other possible writers, none as interesting as you. To be honest, Mercer, we’re so convinced you’re the perfect person that we’ve put all of our eggs in your basket. If you say no, we’ll probably scrap the entire plan and move on to the next one.”

“Which is?”

“I can’t go into that. We’re resourceful and we’re under a lot of pressure, so we’ll move fast in another direction.”

“Is Cable the only suspect?”

“Please, I can’t talk about that. I can tell you a lot more when you’re down there, when you’re good and committed and the two of us are walking on the beach. There’s a lot to talk about, including some ideas about how you should proceed. But I won’t go into it now. It is, after all, quite confidential.”

“I get that. I can keep secrets. That’s the first lesson I learned with my family.”

Elaine smiled as if she understood, as if she trusted Mercer completely. The waitress poured more wine and they worked on their entrées. After the longest silence of the meal, Mercer swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and said, “I have sixty-one thousand dollars in student debt that I can’t get rid of. It’s a burden that consumes every waking hour and it’s making me crazy.”

Elaine smiled again as if she knew. Mercer almost asked if she knew, but really didn’t want the answer. Elaine put down her fork and leaned on her elbows. She tapped her fingertips together softly and said, “We’ll take care of the student loans, plus the hundred grand. Fifty now, fifty in six months. Cash, check, gold bars, any way you want it. Off the books, of course.”